An aerial view of glaciers near the summit of the 16,000-foot Puncak Jaya mountain in the Indonesian part of New Guinea island is seen in this March 2010 handout photo. Scientists in a team led by alpine glaciologist Lonnie Thompson of Ohio State University have begun drilling ice cores at a shrinking tropical glacier in Indonesia to collect data on climate change, and hope their findings could lead to better predictions about crucial monsoon rains.

These invaluable ice cores are like climate time capsules buried thousands of years ago that show successive layers of ice and snow that have been laid down on glaciers. They enclose tiny bubbles that contain samples of the atmosphere trapped when each layer of ice first formed. By unlocking their secrets, scientists will reveal how the climate has changed over thousands of years.